Zoey 101 Star Matthew Underwood Saves Baby from Car Crash After Parents Pass Out from Suspected Drug Use
Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood saved a 4-month-old baby boy from a serious car accident on Thursday night in Port St. Lucie, Florida, after the infant’s mother and father passed out from suspected drug use.
According to a March 30 police report, Underwood, 26, observed a 2003 white Saturn fail to stop at a stop sign and swerve across six lanes of traffic, before crashing into a tree.
After observing the crash, Underwood ran over to the vehicle, where he found a female and male unconscious in the car and the unharmed infant in the back seat, TMZ first reported, while his brother, Joshua, called 911.
Port St. Lucie police arrived at the “intersection of SE Port St. Lucie Boulevard and SE Glover Street for reports of a car crash” at around 8:30 p.m., where they found the crashed vehicle.
At the scene, Jessica Ruth Hand, 34, was found “unconscious behind the wheel of the car with a syringe in her arm” and John Jacob Rodriguez, 34, was found “unconscious in the back seat with a syringe next to him and an infant boy in an unsecured car seat alongside him,” according to a press release.
“I heard a baby cry and that’s when I immediately ran around the other side of the car and looked for the baby,” Underwood told WPTV.com.
“[Underwood] removed the infant boy and placed him next to the officer on scene,” the press release reads.
Both Hand and Rodriguez were removed from the car and first aid was administered to them before all three persons were transported by St. Lucie County Fire Rescue to St. Lucie Medical Center.
“While at the hospital police found Rodriquez to be in possession of an unmarked bottle containing 38 pills, which turned out to be Alprazolam (a controlled substance). A broken pipe, suspected to be used for smoking narcotics, was also found on Rodriguez,” the press release reads.
According to the police report, Hand confessed to purchasing heroin that evening and “decided to try heroin” on the night of the accident.
Hand was arrested for child neglect and possession of drug paraphernalia, and Rodriguez was arrested for child neglect, possession of controlled substance without prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia, and violation of probation warrant after both passed out while driving with their infant boy in the car.
The child was turned over to a family member.
“I hope they can get rehabilitated,” Underwood told WPTV. “I hope they can wake up and want their child back so much, want their life together, that they’ll get clean.”
A rep for Underwood did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
